Very occasionally a movie comes along that raises so many important issues, so clearly, so compellingly, that discussing it with friends seems mandatory. 13…
Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford, 1983)
Mac Sledge, former country singer and current alcoholic, is in need of restoration—personal, vocational, relational. After landing at the bottom of the bottle, Mac…
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)
No movie in recent memory so exemplifies the wisdom of the less-is-more principle than The Straight Story, David Lynch’s G-rated, true story of Alvin…
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)
Alvin Straight is in his seventies and lives in Iowa with his daughter, Rose. Rose is the only family he knows except Lyle, his…
The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy, 2003)
Fin, a man born with dwarfism, inherits an abandoned train depot in a rural town after the death of a friend and co-worker. Instead…
Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998)
It is frankly difficult to review Run Lola Run. Not because the plot is so complicated that it frustrates attempts to summarize it, but…
High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
Rob Gordon, a not-so-thriving independent record store owner in Chicago, makes lists: Top 5 dream jobs, Top 5 songs for any situation, and Top…
Heaven (Tom Tykwer, 2002)
Heaven introduces us to Philippa, a schoolteacher who commits a crime in the name of justice, and Filippo, a policeman who helps her escape,…
Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)
Enid and Rebecca have just graduated from high school, and they’re let loose to spend their summer in, by their estimations, a lame town,…
Big Fish (Tim Burton, 2003)
Edward Bloom is dying of cancer, and his son, alienated from his father, makes one last visit in hope of finding out the truth.…